Google has announced that Android version 2.3.4 will have video chat capabilities through Google Talk. The official word on the roll out is, “Google Talk with video and voice chat will gradually roll out to Nexus S devices in the next few weeks as part of the Android 2.3.4 over-the-air update and will launch on other Android 2.3+ devices in the future.”
Android users will be able to see their friends on other Android phones or PCs that have Google Talk. While phones with front-facing cameras have been fairly common since the end of 2010, the software hasn’t been the best. Apple’s FaceTime is easy to use and has great image quality, but it’s limited to iOS (WiFi only) and Mac OS devices. I’ve been mostly unimpressed with newer services like Fring, Qik, and Tango. I expected Skype to own this segment, but the company has been pathetically slow in expanding its mobile video-chat efforts (currently only available in iOS devices on WiFi).
Google has a huge opportunity to dominate the mobile video-chat market. Google Talk is available to anyone that uses Gmail. Android phones are more popular than ever. The numbers are certainly there (though I wonder if Apple would approve an official Google Talk app with video chat). Will Google be able to take advantage of this opportunity? Will it force Skype to get off its lazy ass and Apple to expand FaceTime to other platforms? As a VoIP junkie, I can’t wait to find out.
I only know a handful of people with video chat and most of them I don't want to talk to lol.